NASHVILLE, Tenn., Dec. 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Tivity
Health® Inc. (Nasdaq: TVTY), a leading provider of
health improvement solutions, including SilverSneakers®,
the nation's leading community fitness program for older adults,
has secured an exclusive agreement with Stitch, a social engagement
platform where older adults can connect, both virtually and in
person, to help foster social connection and create meaningful
relationships. Stitch will be available to eligible SilverSneakers
members in participating health plans in January 2022.
Stitch is a virtual community for individuals 50+, with more
than 154,000 participants worldwide and over 91,000 participants in
the U.S. Along with in-person community events, Stitch offers
members virtual opportunities to participate in a wide variety of
activities and connect with other Stitch members who share their
interests. Members can join member-led activities such as book
clubs, trivia, crafting and more.
"Social isolation and loneliness were recognized as a public
health issue for seniors even before the pandemic and it has only
worsened over the past 18 months," said Richard Ashworth, president and CEO,
Tivity Health. "We know that when
seniors engage in a variety of activities, including physical
fitness and social opportunities, their overall health and
well-being improve. With this exclusive Stitch agreement, we
believe we can reach more members, helping them connect with social
activities, friends, and programming that interests them, and
providing a community-based network to mitigate social isolation
and loneliness."
With Stitch, SilverSneakers can better support Medicare
Advantage members in participating health plans with experiences
beyond physical fitness to improve their health and to connect
in-person or virtually with other seniors, including friends they
may typically see at their local fitness centers.
"The COVID-19 crisis has overwhelmed and impacted all of us. It
also illustrates the importance and value of social connections,"
said Andrew Dowling, founder and CEO
of Stitch. "Stitch encourages friendships and connections with
unique community programming focused on shared interests, as
members are empowered to create and organize events around their
interests. Supporting SilverSneakers members will allow us to grow
our network to further build in-person and virtual relationships to
support the health and quality of life of our community."
SilverSneakers has been surveying SilverSneakers members through
a series of SilverSneakers Pulse surveys since the pandemic began
on topics including physical activity, social connection, nutrition
and technology adoption. Survey respondents have consistently
identified inability to visit with friends and family as the number
one cause of disruption in their lives during the pandemic. In the
most recent quarterly survey, 8% of members reported consistent
social isolation, double that of pre-COVID levels, but less than at
the highest point of 23% in January-March of 2021.
"Research shows that the influence of social relationships on
health is comparable to that of many well-established risk factors
such as smoking or obesity," said Julianne
Holt-Lunstad, PhD, professor of psychology and neuroscience
at Brigham Young University. "I've
spent my career studying the association between social interaction
and physical health and the connection is clear. As we learn even
more about this link, especially for older adults who may have
specific barriers to social engagement, it's great to see companies
developing innovative solutions to provide opportunities for social
connection."
For decades, SilverSneakers has been building community through
group exercise and the social connections developed through its
curated experiences. In a SilverSneakers Annual Member Survey, 57%
of members said they had made new and valuable friendships through
the program. The addition of Stitch will further expand the options
that members in participating plans have in order to build social
connections through unlimited access to the Stitch social
platform.
About Tivity Health
Tivity Health® Inc.
(Nasdaq: TVTY) is a leading provider of healthy life-changing
solutions, including SilverSneakers®, Prime®
Fitness, WholeHealth Living® and Wisely Well™. We help
adults improve their health and support them on life's journey by
providing access to in-person and virtual physical activity,
social, and mental enrichment programs, as well as a full suite of
physical medicine and integrative health services. We continue to
enhance the way we direct members along their journey to better
health by delivering an insights-driven, personalized, interactive
experience. Our suite of services support health plans nationwide
as they seek to reduce costs and improve health outcomes. At Tivity
Health, we deliver the resources members need to live healthier,
happier, more connected lives. Learn more at tivityhealth.com.
About SilverSneakers
SilverSneakers®, by
Tivity Health®, is the nation's leading community
fitness program for Medicare eligible Americans. The program was
founded in 1992 and is available to more than 15 million Americans
through many Medicare Advantage plans, Medicare Supplement
carriers, and group retiree plans. For more information, to check
eligibility or to enroll in the program or sign up for a
SilverSneakers newsletter, go to silversneakers.com.
About Stitch
With over 150,000 registered members in
over 450 cities worldwide, Stitch is the world's leading
companionship and activity community for anyone over 50, helping
its members enrich their lives through activities, group events,
companionship, and more. To learn more about Stitch please visit
stitch.net.
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking
Statements
This press release contains certain statements
that are "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of the
federal securities laws, including Section 27A of the Securities
Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange
Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements are based
upon current expectations and include all statements that are not
historical statements of fact and those regarding the intent,
belief or expectations, including, without limitation, statements
that are accompanied by words such as "will," "expect," "outlook,"
"anticipate," "intend," "plan," "believe," "seek," "see," "would,"
"target," or other similar words, phrases or expressions and
variations or negatives of these words. These forward-looking
statements include, but are not limited to, the Company's
statements regarding its future financial performance. Readers of
this press release should understand that these statements are not
guarantees of performance or results. Many risks and uncertainties
could affect actual results and cause them to vary materially from
the forward-looking statements.
These risks and uncertainties include, among other things:
impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic (including the response of
governmental authorities to combat and contain the pandemic, the
closure of fitness centers in the Company's national network (or
operational restrictions imposed on such fitness centers),
reclosures and potential additional reclosures as a result of
surges in positive COVID-19 cases) on the Company's business,
operations or liquidity; the risks associated with changes in
macroeconomic conditions (including the impacts of any recession or
changes in consumer spending resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic),
widespread epidemics, pandemics (such as the current COVID-19
pandemic) or other outbreaks of disease, geopolitical turmoil, and
the continuing threat of domestic or international terrorism; the
Company's ability to collect accounts receivable from its customers
and amounts due under its sublease agreements; the market's
acceptance of the Company's new products and services; the
Company's ability to develop and implement effective strategies and
to anticipate and respond to strategic changes, opportunities, and
emerging trends in the Company's industry and/or business, as well
as to accurately forecast the related impact on the Company's
revenues and earnings; the impact of any impairment of the
Company's goodwill, intangible assets, or other long-term assets;
the Company's ability to attract, hire, or retain key personnel or
other qualified employees and to control labor costs; the
effectiveness of the reorganization of the Company's business and
the Company's ability to realize the anticipated benefits; the
Company's ability to effectively compete against other entities,
whose financial, research, staff, and marketing resources may
exceed its resources; the impact of legal proceedings involving the
Company and/or its subsidiaries, products, or services, including
any claims related to intellectual property rights, as well as our
ability to maintain insurance coverage with respect to such legal
proceedings and claims on terms that would be favorable to us; the
impact of severe or adverse weather conditions, the current
COVID-19 pandemic, and the potential emergence of additional health
pandemics or infectious disease outbreaks on member participation
in the Company's programs; the risks associated with deriving a
significant concentration of revenues from a limited number of the
Company's customers, many of whom are health plans; the Company's
ability and/or the ability of its customers to enroll participants
and to accurately forecast their level of enrollment and
participation in the Company's programs in a manner and within the
timeframe anticipated by the Company; the Company's ability to
sign, renew and/or maintain contracts with its customers and/or the
Company's fitness partner locations under existing terms or to
restructure these contracts on terms that would not have a material
negative impact on the Company's results of operations; the ability
of the Company's health plan customers to maintain the number of
covered lives enrolled in those health plans during the terms of
the Company's agreements; the Company's ability to add and/or
retain active subscribers in its Prime Fitness program; the impact
of any changes in tax rates, enactment of new tax laws, revisions
of tax regulations or any claims or litigation with taxing
authorities; the impact of a reduction in Medicare Advantage health
plan reimbursement rates or changes in plan design; the impact of
any new or proposed legislation, regulations and interpretations
relating to Medicare, Medicare Advantage, Medicare Supplement, and
privacy and security laws; the impact of healthcare reform on the
Company's business; the risks associated with potential failures of
the Company's information systems or those of our third-party
vendors, including as a result of telecommuting issues associated
with the Company's employees working remotely, which may include a
failure to execute on policies and processes in a work-from-home or
remote model; the risks associated with data privacy or security
breaches, computer hacking, network penetration and other illegal
intrusions of the Company's information systems or those of
third-party vendors or other service providers, including those
risks that result from the increase in personnel working remotely,
which may result in unauthorized access by third parties, loss,
misappropriation, disclosure or corruption of customer, employee or
the Company's information, or other data subject to privacy laws
and may lead to a disruption in the Company's business, costs to
modify, enhance, or remediate its cybersecurity measures,
enforcement actions, fines or litigation against the Company, or
damage to its business reputation; the risks associated with
changes to traditional office-centered business processes and/or
conducting operations out of the office in a work-from-home or
remote model by us or our third party vendors during adverse
situations (e.g., during a crisis, disaster, or pandemic), which
may result in additional costs and/or may negatively impact
productivity and cause other disruptions to the Company's business;
the Company's ability to enforce its intellectual property rights;
the risk that the Company's indebtedness may limit the Company's
ability to adapt to changes in the economy or market conditions,
expose the Company to interest rate risk for the variable rate
indebtedness and require a substantial portion of cash flows from
operations to be dedicated to the payment of indebtedness; the
Company's ability to service its debt, make principal and interest
payments as those payments become due, and remain in compliance
with its debt covenants; the Company's ability to obtain adequate
financing to provide the capital that may be necessary to support
its current or future operations; counterparty risk associated with
the Company's interest rate swap agreements; and other risks
detailed in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission.
For additional information about factors that could cause actual
results to differ materially from those described in the
forward-looking statements, please refer to the Company's filings
with the SEC. Except as required by law, the Company undertakes no
obligation to update any such forward-looking statements to reflect
new information, subsequent events or circumstances.
Contact: Debbie Jacobson,
debbie.jacobson@tivityhealth.com
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SOURCE Tivity Health